A/N: Okay so I didn't plan on this being its own chapter but I wanted a clear separation between school and the holidays. Plus, first ever Howard POV!

Soundtrack: Goldmund's "Now" and "Threnody"

.

.

.

Andromeda felt it very awkward standing in Filch's office with Howard, Ted, and Lucius. It was a grimy place, full of strange cleaning supplies, cabinets full of incident reports, and smelled strongly of old cat food. She wrinkled her nose and watched the old caretaker pace back and forth in front of them.

Lucius had a constant sneer on his face as he looked around the filthy office. He couldn't stand the squib in front of him and hated that he had to take orders from him tonight. This was servant stuff, the kind of things that the Mudblood should be doing, not him and it was the Mudblood a few feet down from him who got him into this mess in the first place.

Howard shifted uncomfortably as Filch eyed each of the students in front of him, walking slowly down the line. He wasn't entirely sure how he got caught up in this mess with Ted, Andromeda, and Lucius, but he wasn't about to let his best friend face detention alone. He caught Andromeda's eye as she glanced around. She gave him a small smile and surprisingly, he returned it.

Ted kept his eyes in front of him, not trusting himself to even look at Malfoy right now. The only thing keeping him sane was the fact that Andromeda had finally chosen him. The past two days with her had been magical. They still couldn't date in public, but just knowing that she was his, really his, was enough. But still, being this close to Malfoy and knowing what he had tried to do was testing Ted's limits.

"You troublemakers will be serving your punishment by scrubbing and scouring tonight," Filch's rusty voice snapped. He eyed each of them disapprovingly. "You two," He pointed to Andromeda and Howard. "Will be cleaning the trophy room. And you two," He jabbed his crooked finger at Ted and Lucius. "Will be cleaning out Professor Slughorn's used potions bottles."

Andromeda felt her stomach turn. Ted and Lucius, together again, only meant there would be more trouble.

Lucius' lip curled. Not only was he having to debase himself for something that wasn't even his fault, he was now going to have to do it next to Tonks.

Howard glanced back over to Andromeda who looked just as worried as him. He was glad that he hadn't been paired with Malfoy but was worried what Ted might do.

Ted stiffened and slowly turned his head to look at the blonde. He pictured Lucius on top of Andromeda and felt disgust and revulsion swirl sickly inside of him. He was going to have to spend his last evening before the holidays with that purist, rapist, piece of shit instead of with Andromeda.

"Follow me," Filch growled and led them from his office.

They walked in stony silence until they came to the trophy room. Filch held out a bottle of polish and two rags. Andromeda and Howard both grabbed one.

"I'll come get you when you're done," He growled.

Andromeda honey eyes met Ted's chocolate ones. She felt dread fill her and wanted to reach out to Ted and pull him away from Lucius.

Lucius glared at the two of them darkly. His boils were gone, but the sense of humiliation and jealousy was only increasing the longer the two of them stared at each other.

Howard gave Ted a small nod, "Good luck, mate," He muttered.

Ted gave Andromeda a thin smile, unable to produce more than that to reassure her. As much as he did not want to spend a minute in Malfoy's company, he didn't know what he would have done if she had gotten paired with Malfoy instead. Tonight was a small price to pay for the prize of Andromeda.

"Come on, you two," Filch called and Ted and Lucius broke off, following him to the potions room.

.

.

.

Howard worked in silence for the beginning of the evening. He didn't feel the same animosity towards Black as he used to, but he still didn't know enough about her to form a new opinion.

He glanced behind him where she was wiping down a large silver trophy. This was the girl that had caused so much strife in his best friend's life, but at the same time, Ted had never been happier than he was now that he was with her. Howard frowned as he thought about the fact that he had never really given Andromeda a chance.

He had always seen her as just another Slytherin purist, but when Ted had stumbled into the Hufflepuff common room the other night and told Howard what Andromeda had done, he couldn't help but be thrilled for his friend. Andromeda had made Ted happier than he had ever been and maybe that meant that she deserved a second chance.

"So, uh, Black," Howard said, wiping down a small shield on a wooden plaque for the 1936 Ravenclaw Quidditch Team. "That was a pretty good jinx you hit Malfoy with,"

Andromeda turned and appraised him carefully. "It was a curse not a jinx," She said casually.

Howard rolled his eyes. 'Slytherins,' He thought to himself.

"But thanks," Andromeda added a little softer.

He glanced back at her, her amber eyes a little softer now.

"I can show you," She offered. "If you want,"

Howard set down the plaque. "Show me how?" He didn't fancy getting hit with that jinx, sorry curse, himself.

Andromeda held the trophy out in front of her and pointed it at him. Howard tensed. "If you give it a little twist," Andromeda turned her wrist ever so slightly, "Like this, then you can make it hit more surface area so you get more boils."

Howard looked at her nervously. She was smiling a little too much for his liking to be talking about curses.

"Thaddeus broke his arm when he was seven and it was never healed correctly so he draws just a little slower than you'd expect," Andromeda stated. Howard blinked. "I saw him messing with you last week." She explained at his shocked expression.

He stared at her blankly. Andromeda Black was giving him tips on curses and telling him how to use them on her fellow Slytherins. He had never in his wildest dreams expected this. Slowly a small smile spread on his face. "Thanks, Black." He said curiously.

"No problem." She shrugged and turned back to the silver trophy.

Maybe Ted was right, maybe there was more to Andromeda than he ever thought before.

"How'd he break his arm?" Howard asked.

Andromeda smirked. "I pushed him out of a tree."

.

.

.

The muscles in Ted's back were taut and tight as he wiped out empty bottles and flasks and set them on a rack to dry. He was doing his best to focus on the menial task at hand instead of the depraved, miserable purist behind him. His chest felt tight as the anger pumped away through his blood.

Lucius tried to touch as little of the glass vials as he could. It was ridiculous that they were expected to clean these by hand, without magic, as a punishment. He couldn't wait until June when he left this ludicrous school. The only reason he was staying was just to be able to say that he did, not that he needed the education to get a job or really had that much left to learn. He already knew enough to be an asset to the Dark Lord.

Ted pushed his hair out of his eyes again, wondering how much longer he was going to have to do this for. There were much better things to do on a beautiful snowy night like tonight; such as curl up next to Andromeda and talk about what they were going to do once they left school, especially since the train home was leaving in the morning and he wouldn't see her for two weeks.

Lucius dropped a small glass bottle and it crashed on the floor, shattering the heavy silence the Hufflepuff and Slytherin were sharing. Ted glanced back at the broken shards of glass on the floor and then up at Malfoy. Malfoy sneered at the Mudblood.

"You going to clean that up?" Ted asked in a low voice.

"Don't tell me what to do, Mudblood!" Lucius hissed.

"That was a question, not a statement, dumbass," Ted muttered, turning back to the flask he was working on.

"What did you just call me?" Lucius threw down his rag and turned around.

Ted turned to face him and raised his eyebrows. "A dumbass. Means you're stupid, Malfoy." Ted said slowly as if he was trying to explain it to a child.

"Just you wait, Tonks," Lucius sneered. "You'll get what's coming to you," He said darkly.

"Why wait?" Ted threw down his rag. "I'm ready whenever you are." His eyes glittered dangerously.

Lucius seethed. He hated the Hufflepuff in front of him, but he didn't want to take his chances alone with him and without a wand. "Don't want to mess up my knuckles on your face. See I'll be getting a new ring soon," Lucius smirked.

Ted heard his blood rushing in his ears. "No you won't," He said in a low voice.

"I already have an invitation to the Black Mansion over the holidays to discuss a very important business proposal," Malfoy stressed the last word.

Ted clenched his jaw. Andromeda had told him that they needed to wait to tell people until the end of the year or else her Father would take her out of school and she wanted to finish her last year. But if Malfoy was going to meet with her Father over the break they might not have until the end of the year anymore.

"You stay away from Andromeda," Ted said and took a step towards Malfoy.

Lucius laughed darkly. "You don't have a chance in hell with her,"

"I've had more with her than you ever will," Ted snarled.

Malfoy's grey eyes turned cold and calculating. "What did you say?" He asked harshly.

Ted cursed himself for being foolish enough to argue with Malfoy.

"Just stay away from her. I know what you did," Ted's voice was low and dangerous.

A flicker of fear flashed in Lucius eyes. "You don't know anything," He spat. "She came up to me. She asked me to dance, not the other way around,"

"She didn't ask you to try and rape her," Ted snarled. He didn't need his wand. He would beat Malfoy bloody with his bare hands.

Lucius raised one eyebrow and curled his lip. "Seems like Andromeda hasn't been a good little girl after all," Malfoy looked Ted over with disgust.

"If you touch her I'll-"

"If you touch her, I'll come for you and not just me," Lucius interrupted him. "We'll come for you. We'll come for your filthy Muggle family. And I'll take her from your cold dead arms," Lucius' eyes blazed. "Learn your place, Mudblood, under my heel," He said slowly.

"Alright, boys," Filch appeared at the door. "Get back to your dormitories, it's after hours."

Ted didn't move; he was doing everything he could not ram his fist into Malfoy's smug face right now.

Lucius sneered and walked out after Filch, leaving Ted fuming behind him.

"Let's go, let's go," Filch waved his hand. "I've got things to do!" His scratchy voice was full of annoyance.

Ted chewed on the inside of his lip and walked out of the storage room. Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.

He turned back and almost ran into Filch. "The others," He asked breathlessly. "Are they still in the trophy room?"

"No, I already sent them back to their dorms before I came down here. Now, move!" He shoved Ted towards the door.

.

.

.

Ted raced down to the dungeons, hoping to find Andromeda. He didn't like the idea of her in the Slytherin common room with Malfoy tonight; not after what had happened between them in the potions room. He prayed that she would have already gone to bed where he couldn't reach her. He ran up and down the dark tunnels in the dungeons, hoping to catch her if she was still out. Why in seven years had he never figured out where the Slytherin common room actually was?

He had been so stupid letting Malfoy get under his skin like that. But that was what Malfoy did best; slither in and fuck things up. He had been doing it to Ted for years and he shook his head, thinking that he should have known better. After a half an hour Ted walked back up to the upper levels of the castle then climbed the staircases to the seventh floor, hoping that Andromeda was safe.

Candace was sitting in their shared common room and Ted's face turned hard as he saw her. They had barely spoken, not that they had much before, but even less so since he found out she was spying on him for Malfoy. Ted avoided the Head dorm now, having spent more time in the Hufflepuff common room and only really coming here to sleep. He didn't want Candace to know anything about him or his habits that she could report back to Malfoy on.

She didn't say anything or even look at him as he walked past her and he ignored her too, climbing the stairs up to his dormitory, opening the door and stopping suddenly as Andromeda turned to look at him over her shoulder, ashen waves sliding across her back and honey eyes crinkling as her full lips opened in a smile.

.

.

.

Ted quickly shut the door and his mouth opened in a wide smile.

"This is the second time you've broken into my room. You know that's a crime right?" Ted asked playfully.

"Are you going to turn me in?" Andromeda sucked on her bottom lip and looked up at him through heavy lashes.

"Do I get to manhandle you if I do?" Ted asked mischievously.

Andromeda slowly made her way over to him, her hips swaying.

"Wait, Candace didn't see you did she? She's downstairs," Ted asked urgently.

"You don't have to worry about Candace anymore," Andromeda said with a small smirk as she came to a stop in front of him and slowly snaked her arms around his neck.

Ted looked confused and Andromeda took pity on him as she flashed him a wicked smirk.

"Let's just say that she realized the importance of reaching short term goals before long term goals," Andromeda said slyly.

Ted pulled his brows together, "You've lost me,"

Andromeda gave a small laugh. "I merely explained to her that it would be hard for her to take any more of Lucius' gold if I curse her hands and made them shrivel up like old banana peels." Her eyes shone like warm honey and she smiled sweetly.

Ted wrapped his arms around her waist. "You Slytherins," He murmured in awe and Andromeda simply shrugged. He knew that Slytherins were willing to do anything to get what they wanted, but for the first time Ted knew what it felt like to have that power on his side.

She gasped as Ted heaved her up and placed her on his hips. "I like you being bad," He said in a low voice, "For me," He growled and tossed her onto the bed.

Andromeda giggled happily as Ted leaned over her. "Then you're going to love what I'm about to do," She said and pulled him down on top of her.

.

.

.

Ted woke up early, just as the first rays of the sun were reaching into his high windows, turning the shadows in his room to a light gray. Andromeda was sleeping soundlessly beside him, her wavy hair spilled over the pillow and the duvet resting on her chest as it gently rose and fell. The cut on her cheek was healing, but the dark line was still clearly visible against her pale skin. He leaned over and kissed it tenderly.

He was still in shock that a girl like Andromeda had chosen to be with him. Not that she was a Pureblood and was born with more money than he would see in his entire life, but the fact that someone so beautiful, smart, wild, and independent wanted to be with a boy from the south side of the river who sometimes still forgot to wear socks.

She had stayed the night with him for the first time since last spring when he had found her in his room, in his bed. Now here she was again. Ted felt like his heart might burst through his chest and onto the bed between them at the thought that he might be able to wake up to her next to him every morning for the rest of his life. No, for the rest of their lives.

A large part of him wanted to stay here, at Hogwarts, over the holidays with Andromeda so they could have more of this, but her parents were making her come home and he missed his own parents terribly. He had told them about Andromeda before and couldn't wait to tell his Mum that they were finally together.

Andromeda shifted slightly in the bed next to him and let out a small noise.

"Ted…" She said softly in her sleep.

He froze. She was dreaming of him.

He leaned closer to her, whispering, "I'm here,"

She breathed in. "Get the…" She mumbled something he couldn't understand.

"What's that?" He murmured and stroked her hair.

"Get the kettle," She sighed, "You'll burn down the cottage," She finished, mumbling.

Ted's eyes widened and he started breathing faster. She wasn't just dreaming of him, she was dreaming of the cottage she told him about. She was dreaming of a life with him in the cottage.

Andromeda woke suddenly to Ted's lips everywhere on her; her face, her neck, her hair. His strong arms were wrapped around her and pulling her towards him while he simultaneously pushed her against the bed.

"What are you doing?" She groaned sleepily, but couldn't stop the smile from breaking on her face as the sun broke brightly through the windows, filling the room with pale morning light.

Ted planted a few more kisses along her neck and down to her chest before pulling back. "I'm going to give that to you." He said breathlessly.

"What are you talking about?" Andromeda murmured and let her head drop back against the pillow.

"The cottage. I am going to give you that life,"

Andromeda opened her eyes and saw that Ted's eyes were a deep, rich, brown. The morning sun could not compare to the light that seemed to shine out of them and radiate across his face as Andromeda brushed her fingers against his cheek.

"You were talking in your sleep," Ted murmured and brushed his lips against hers.

Andromeda felt herself blush. She had been dreaming of the cottage with the round fireplace and open windows. It hadn't been a particularly exciting dream, just Ted and her living there, together. But it was one of the best dreams she ever had.

"You should have given me a few more hours of sleep instead," She muttered, pretending to be annoyed with him.

Ted ran his nose along hers. "You can sleep when you're in your own bed tonight. I've only got a few more hours with you and I'm going to make the most of them," Ted whispered against her ear.

Andromeda felt his hand move in between her legs and she gasped.

Ted gently ran his fingers against her before dipping them slowly inside her.

Her eyes flew open and she clasped her hand around his neck.

Ted looked down at her and she saw his arm move slowly under the duvet as he worked his fingers in her.

"Teddy," She breathed out.

"Shh, just lay back," He said softly as he slowly slid his fingers in and out of her. Andromeda gasped loudly. "Just relax and let me do this for you," He murmured as Andromeda let her head sink back into the pillow and Ted dipped his head into her neck.

.

.

.

A/N: So a shorter chapter, but hopefully one you still enjoyed. Please review if you are enjoying this story; there have been less reviews of late and I would just really like to hear what you think of the chapter and the fic in general.